


The House of my Nightmares

by MyValentina



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Backstory, Children In Danger, Gen, Haunted House, Kid Fic, ghost story, mills sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-25 02:24:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3793105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyValentina/pseuds/MyValentina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Haunted houses don’t work for me. Not as a child, not now, not ever. There’s a line.” Abbie Mills, 1X09 Sanctuary</p>
            </blockquote>





	The House of my Nightmares

There were times when Abbie would lay in bed and try and picture the next house they would be sent to live in. Not necessarily the foster family, to her they all seemed the same, all of them very  _very_ much the same.

But the houses really had character. Maybe if she could predict how many rooms it had or if the bathroom had a tub, if the walls peeled or if the floors reeked of old transgressions, then maybe she would be that much more prepared for uprooting and leaving that little bit of her behind in the move.

Nothing she could have imaged could have prepared her for this house.

On the day they were moved to the house she remembered holding on so tightly to Jenny, either in a protective way or scared-witless-from-a-feeling unknown-way, she wasn’t sure which. Jenny, thank heavens, just let her. Jenny’s will was iron and not yet broken.

Abbie slept snuggled close to her sister together in the twin sized bed even though limbs where threatening to hang off the sides. She was so sure that the wind that knocked the tree branches about and skirted the house looking for cracks was actually whispers. Unknown words to her young ears. Psychological defense mechanisms must have blocked most of the words from her memory but she can’t forget a distant laughing in the dark.

And yet the house seemed nice enough. If Abbie had seen pictures of it before the move she may have even been excited. They would each have a room this time, and the years had not yet begun to show in the wood or tile. The house couldn’t have been more than a decade or two old.

Later in life Abbie would look up the history of that house and the land, but come up blank as if whatever force occupied the space just ate up years and histories, and lives. Much much later Abbie would know whatever entity had appeared there had been there all those years waiting for the Mill’s sisters. He was waiting for one half of the witnesses to the apocalypse and the witnesses’ ordained bodyguard.

The school was fine, and the walk to and from the bus was fine, and even the kids in the neighborhood were fine. It was all fine except for the dread Abbie could not strike from her heart the minute she spotted the house in the distance. It was like a cloud was always circling over head.

~

After a couple of weeks of living in that house, Abbie sat at the dining room table eating dinner and finishing her homework with Jenny. The sound of the neighbor’s dog whining pitifully next door made her pause. She got a cold feeling slinking down her spine.

“Jenny?” She whispered, their foster mother in the next room with NPR dulling the house into a daze.

“Jenny, what do think about this house?” She asked.

They hadn’t spoken much about it, not much to say that they hadn’t already lamented about in previous circumstances.

“Mmmmn, ‘s fine,” Her sister mumbled, her brow creased as she focused on a rather difficult math problem.  

“Jenny!” Abbie shook her sister’s arm, and the sound of alarm in her sister’s voice finally broke through Jenny’s concentration. She looked over with a frown, her delicate feature’s drawn.

“What’s the matter, Abbie? What is it?” She said.

“Don’t you feel it?” Abbie asked, and the look in her sister’s face said it all.

“Abbie?” Jenny asked again, trying to settle her sister. She said, “The house rumbles, but it’s nothing like some of the other homes. What’s different?”

Abbie was suddenly very aware that the dog had gone quite outside. Actually there was no sound from the outside world at all.

“Something is in here with us.” Abbie managed just above a whisper.

“Abbie, you’re scaring me. Mona is in here with us. Are you scared of Mona?” Jenny struggled to keep the fear at bay, but her sister was becoming pale, and she was cold to the touch.

“Please, Abbie.”

But Abbie had frozen, and stopped breathing, her face contorted into petrified fear and her eyes big enough to reflect Jenny’s scared face and something else. Jenny could see the outline of her own head, the oven light and the door, all small in the dark color of her sister’s eyes, but… Something was blocking the light coming from the hallway and through the dining room door.

Jenny whipped around, her arms grasping for her sister’s, but she saw nothing. The hallway was bright and empty, and she wanted to hit her sister for riling her up so much.

“Abbie, I swear…” Jenny said, but Abbie suddenly grabbed a handful of her sister’s shirt. Jenny brushed it off.

“Abbie, I don’t want to play this game with you.” She said. And when she didn’t say anything Jenny turned around and let out the loudest shriek imaginable.

Her sister was a foot off the ground, hands scratching desperately at her neck. Jenny tossed her heavy math book at the space above her sister and Abbie collapsed to the ground.

As soon as Jenny could get her hands on her sister they were running to the living room, Abbie coughing and wheezing and dazed from sensations of floating and no breath in her lungs.

“Miss Mona!” Jenny yelled, reaching the figure sleeping in the armchair.

“Miss Mona!”

But the woman stayed sleeping, her head lulled and resting on her chest. Jenny hesitated as she went to shake the woman awake, but the radio fluctuated into static at that moment, tuning itself into the voice that had been whispering to Abbie all those nights in a row. It was a mix of grunts and sounds that they had never heard before, and so the demon in Miss Mona translated.

“She cannot help anymore.”

Both girls fell back at the sight of the blacked out eyes now starting them down. Abbie scrambled to her feet, dragging Jenny along as they ran screaming down the hallway to their room. Doors all around them shut in defiance and things rattled uneasily within cabinets and closets. The house itself groaned at the strain of evil, and the girls could never have been prepared for this. Not yet, anyway.

The doors to their rooms shut one after the other before they could run into the safety of their blankets, and down the hall the lights flickered. Miss Mona’s silhouette took up much of the light within the doorway as she stalked after them.

They cowered. The only option left was the basement, and Abbie had a sinking feeling that was the worst possible place they could go. She took her sisters hand tightly in hers and they made a b-line for the only door that remained open. They shut it hard as they nearly tumbled down into the depths of the house.

Jenny had to jump but was able to grab the overhanging string that turned on the lone light bulb, while Abbie somehow knocked over an empty cabinet in front of the stairs. Then they gathered together listening to the creek of footsteps on the stairs, but there was no one there. No one they could see.

The wind was whispering again, in that other worldly language, and the dust on the side of the overturned cabinet made way for ghostly hand prints. Abbie was petrified again, the feeling of hands around her neck, migrating down as if she could feel those hands around her heart. Even though there was nothing there she somehow knew she was staring into something’s eyes. The whispering was louder, now a voice in her head, and it said, “come and see…” But Jenny was pulling her away, and soon they were climbing on old boxes and tv sets and other junk.

The moon shining through a small window lit there way as the bulb shattered and broke overhead.

Jenny always having been scrawnier and more limber was out the window quicker than Abbie could even get to it. Jenny’s hand dangled from freedom reaching for her sister and she was screaming.

“Hurry up, Abbie! Hurry up! Come on, Abbie! You can do it! Grab my hand!”

But it hadn’t been enough, not quite enough. Reaching for her sister something grabbed her foot and easily she was whisked back into the darkness.

She struck out at the finally tangible mass and kicked and scratched and she fell hard to the floor where for a moment within the stars that burst in front of her eyes she saw the future and her screaming stopped.

~

“Abbie!”

When Abbie regained consciousness she was upstairs in the living room, her sister beside her and a frazzled Miss Mona with an epic shiner in one eye.

“Miss Mona?” She asked, wary of seeing those eyes turn back to black.

But the house was quiet and the terror had seemed to pass.

“Oh, thank god.” Exclaimed the woman, she turned to profusely apologize to the neighbor. He was watching with creased brows at the two girls pale and despondent on the couch.

“I don’t know what happened to make them act like that.” She said, as an explanation.

“That one was screaming bloody murder.” He said, having heard Jenny and running over to investigate. He'd had to drag her away from the basement window, afraid she would fall in.

Miss Mona awoke to the screams as well, rushing downstairs and seeing Abbie precariously perched on a rickety, and moldy bookshelf. She'd tried to grab the girl before she broke her neck, but Abbie had smacked her in the eye.

And here they were with Miss Mona dismissing the man and seriously reconsidering the entire foster care idea. She had never received such a fright in all her life. The girls had been introverts but well behaved. She certainly hadn’t known there was anything wrong with them when she signed up for the job.

Abbie and Jenny didn’t speak to her about what had set them off, because there were no traces of anything other than girls running amok. Even the bruises Abbie thought she would have around her neck were not there.

The next day Abbie overheard Miss Mona speaking on the phone.

“You never told me they had psychological problems. I can’t deal with that. You said they were normal.”

And the house stayed quiet the rest of their stay, which granted was just a week longer.

No matter how many times she replayed the scenario in her head it just didn’t add up. Jenny wasn’t taking it well and Abbie made sure to tell her it must have been something they ate, even when deep down she could still feel icy cold fingers around her neck. T

And that's how the experience had slipped mostly from their memory up until they were walking home one day through the woods.

~

Abbie was sitting deep in thought while the TV murmured in the background. Irving had gone after they had watched the TiVoed Thanksgiving football game and Ichabod was currently deep in a food coma, softly snoring beside her on the couch. Jenny came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her pants.

“What are you so serious about?” She said throwing a pillow at Abbie’s face. Abbie was startled, but easily caught it and threw it back.

“Was the food that bad!” Jenny said, but Abbie laughed pointing at Ichabod.

“Here’s exhibit A. The food was great. I just…” Abbie said, sitting forward on the couch. 

Jenny came over sensing her sister’s unrest.

“Do you remember Miss Mona?” She said slowly.

“That was a while ago, Abbie.” Jenny said. “What made you suddenly think of that?”

“Do you think that house was haunted?”

Jenny bit at her fingernails.

“I’m more inclined to say so now.” She said with a shrug, but Abbie wasn’t ready to drop it.

“Jenny, what happened that night?”

Her sister struggled with something, a complicated look on her face, before dropping down in front of Abbie.

“Whatever happened, we went through some really tough shit that day. Things we weren’t able to handle, not then, not in the woods, and only just now are we even getting the vocabulary to even talk about it, Abbie.”

“I’m so sorry, Jenny.” Abbie blurted out grabbing for her sister like she remembered doing all those years ago. Jenny tensed immediately, anger and grudging understanding fighting for dominance. In the end she hugged back sniffing back some stupid tears.

Hugging like this, like it was the only thing keeping you together, was the best feeling in the world. Abbie cherished it because with a jolt Ichabod kicked awake like puppy.

“Fourth down!” He spluttered into consciousness. Abbie and Jenny laughed finally pulling apart.

“Come on, Crane. I think it’s your bed time.”  Abbie said, pulling on the his lanky arms.

At the door Ichabod apologized profusely for sleeping during their little get together and promised Jenny to cook for her in the near future. Abbie would believe it when she saw it.

“Well, good night, Sis.” Jenny said, looking uncomfortable after the sudden bonding. Abbie didn't go for another hug, knowing she needed to give her space. After all, Rome was not re-built in a day.

“Night, Jenny. This was really nice. Maybe for Christmas we won’t have to fight any monsters and we’ll have an actual day off.”

“With our luck I wouldn’t count on it.” She said with a smirk.

Abbie just gave her a wave and felt her sisters gaze on her back until she got in her car.

“That was an interesting affair, Miss Mills, but not dissatisfactory.”

“See? Aren’t you glad I pulled you out of the bat-cave for some R&R?”

“I suppose.” He said with that look that meant he was just barely understanding her through context clues. “In the future, may I suggest we turn off the Tee Vee and sit around for a rousing game of ‘Animal, Vegetable, Mineral’!” He said, buckling his seatbelt. 

“Sounds fun!” Abbie said concealing her laughter.

“It facilitates wonderful conversations. It would also allow me to see more of your interactions with your sister.” He said fondly. “When you aren’t arguing over football teams or whether or not to call the authorities, she brings out a softness in you I rather like.”

“You saying I’m hard, Crane?” Abbie said, with a side eye. Ichabod let his silence be his response and Abbie laughed.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You should, Abbie. Thank you for distracting me for a little while.”

Abbie let him sink back into his depression, knew he needed to sort out his feelings if he wanted to be clear headed for the fight ahead. She was feeling stronger than ever though and if he lagged behind she would pull him kicking and screaming if she had to. Knew she had someone to help her while Ichabod grieved and raged.

She had her sister. Finally, she had her sister back.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. The last bit takes place at the end of episode 9 in season 1. After Ichabod finds out about Jeremy and is all bummed out about it.
> 
> 2\. I did this for Abbie Mills Appreciation week back during season 1 for the Past/backstory day. I really wanted to explore the idea of Moloch plaguing the sister's lives ever since they were kids. And as we see in the episode Mama that it certainly was the case. I also really wanted to do a haunted house story.


End file.
